Mulling cabinet



July 31, 1962 B. CRETER MULLING CABINET Filed Oct. 21, 1958 INVENTOR .544 rmvsm? awe-r51? ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,046,580 MULLING CABINET Balthasar Creter, Moerfelder Landstrasse 212, Frankfurt am Main, Germany Filed Oct. 21, 1958, Ser. No. 768,626 4 Claims. (Cl. 1259.7)

My invention relates to an improved moistenin'g or dampening cabinet, known as a mulling cabinet, for the processing of shoe uppers.

Dampening or mulling cabinets for the shoe industry for the moistening or mulling of shoe uppers are already known. These produce the necessary air moisture or humidity for the shoe uppers, partly through the creation of steam and partly through dampair. It is also known to subdivide such cabinets, through nested box-like housings, into primary and secondary chambers on the sides, and a lower chamber or compartment for the moistening of the air. The warm and humid air is forced into circulation by means of a ventilator. in such cabinets the moistening of the leather is effected slowly, so that the hourly production is low.

Other known methods cause too much water applied to the leather, resulting in wet spots which produce waste. The purpose of the tempering or mulling, however, is to moisten the shoe uppers and to make them supple and to condition them for the subsequent operations.

It is, accordingly, an object of the invention to provide an improved mulling cabinet, overcoming the disadvantages of prior constructions.

It is another object to meet the above object with a structure lending itself particularly to mass-production processing of shoe uppers.

The mulling cabinet according to my invention has the advantage that the leather pieces are not wetted through but instead are dampened by a water mist flow under controlled heated temperatures. The novel construction of the present invention with its fully automatic control guarantees a safe, professional conditioning of the shoe uppers so that during the succeeding operations, such as pulling over, lasting, etc., the leather is so flexible that it forms properly over the last, without tearing.

The novel construction of my mulling cabinet provides for a thorough .moistening or dampening of the leather, and this dampness is assured for several hours.

As another feature of my invention in a preferred form, the mulling cabinet is divided into communicating top, bottom and side compartments, by building two interconnected housings, one inside the other, and providing means for maintaining mist-laden air in constant cir,"

culation, thereby eliminating the formation of condensation water within the moistening region.

The above stated and other objects and features of the invention will be clear to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following specification, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the fully automatic mulling cabinet of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross section through the cabinet between the doors and the rear of the cabinet along the plane of 2 2 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 shows a cross section through the preheater installation.

My mulling-cabinet construction is characterized by lice which represent an intermediate state, between steam and a fine water shower.

The cabinet according to FIG. 1 consists essentially of an exterior casing or housing 1, an outer cover 2, and a frontwall 4 which is closed oil by doors 3. On one side of the cabinet is seen a switchboard 5, which is connected to a special thermostatic switch 6 (FIG. 3). Conduit 7 designates the supply line to the shutoif valve 9 which controls the automatic water supply. The upper conduits 10' lead to the motor driven ventilator 11 and to the heaters 12. The motorized ventilator 1*1 acts as a blower to aid in the circulation of air through chambers 16, 17 and 17.

In FIG. 2, there is illustrated in cross-section, the mulling cabinet comprising two enclosures, one being positioned inside the other and spaced therefrom along the top, bottom and sides. In FIG. 2, the lower chamber 16,

the lateral chambers 17 and 17', as well as the suction chamber 16 are seen to be defined as a jacket between the outer housing 1 and an inner chamber consisting of side walls 13, intermediate cover 14 and floor plate 15. In thelateral chambers are located air heaters 12 and battle plates 18 and 18. The inner cover 14 includes the suction opening 19 and, below it, the battle plate 20.

Floor 15 holds the entire spraying installation. This consists of the Ringgut filtering baskets 21 "and the removable baskets 22 which are partly filled with the filter, rings 23 and have sieve-like floors 26, whereby the induced airflow may readily carry off the mist droplets. The water supply pipes 24 whose ends carry the nozzles 25 project into the lower filtering baskets 21. In the floor 21 of the outer casing or housing there is a water-drain hole 27. Supporting means (suggested by smallopenings in lateral walls 13 adjacent baifies 18-18) provide means whereby a rack, bar or the like may be removably inserted and held in the inner chamber, for suspending leather pieces to be processed.

The Ringgut filters consist of pot-like containers with perforated sieve-like bottoms and are overl-ayed with a 4 to 5 cm. thick layer' of ceramic tubes. These have a diameter of about 1 cm. and are 2 to 4 cm. long. 1 A filtering basket has a diameter of about two-thirds of the width of the cabinet floor or bottom. The filtering baskets are suspended in large cylindrical sockets situated in the bottom of the interior cabinet. The sockets are similarly provided with sieve-like bottoms and a layer of small ceramic tubes. a

The water-mist from the nozzles 25 wardly partly because of the pressure of the nozzle and partly because of its temperature and is drawn by means of the ventilator or air circulator 11. The mist encounters resistance from the battle plate 20 located within the inner cabinet. The circulating air follows generally the direction of the arrows shown in FIG. 2. The bafiles 18, 18 retard the flow of air in the region of the heaters 12, whereby the efficiency of heating the Water-mist is increased. The effect of heating the water-mist by the heaters 12 serves to prevent cooling of the mist-laden air after it leaves the mulling chamber. In this manner it is possible to utilize a minimum of heat while circulating the air at about the same temperature as the water spray and preventing the formation of condensed water within the moistening chamber. The circulating air, after being drawn up through the top of the inner cabinet and around of leather pieces. This is accomplished by spraying warm the side spaces between the cabinets, returns to the bottom space and the cycle is then repeated. The greater part of the waterspray or mist carried by the circulating air precipitates on the way to the bottom chamber and runs out through the opening 27' in the floor ofthe outer cabinet. During the mulling operation, the spray nozzles work continuously and the air is in constant circulation.

FIG. 3 shows, as mentioned, the pie-heater in cross is projected upsection. The water enters duct 29 through a lateral fitting or port 28 and is heated by an electric heater 40. From there it reaches space 30 and through the connecting piece 31 runs into the pipe 37 in which the thermostatic switch 6 is disposed. Pipe 37 is connected at its end 32 to the duct 33 in FIG. 2. Further, there is provided in pipe 37 a lateral connection 34 fora safety valve. The entire pre-heater assembly is held together by a flange 35. The discharge fitting 36 serves to let the water out, when desired. The water-supply temperature controlled by thermostat 6 is preferably set to regulate substantially in the range 95-100 F., and heaters 12 are also preferably set for operation in substantially the same range.

The water temperature is regulated by the thermostatic switch connected to the pre-heater which is built into the water supply pipe of the pro-heater. The p re-heater is placed between the water supply pipe lines and the feed pipes leading to the nozzles and projects into the tub-like floor of the outer casing.

While I have described the invention in detail for the preferred forms illustrated, it will be understood that modifications may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. A mulling cabinet comprising inner and outer enclosures, said inner enclosure being positioned inside said outer enclosure and spaced therefrom along the top, bottom and sides, means securing said enclosures together and supporting said enclosures in spaced apart relationship thereby defining spaces therebetween, door means on said enclosures for providing access from said outer to said inner enclosure, the inner enclosure having openings at the top and bottom thereof, water-mist spraying means located in said openings in the bottom of said inner enclosure for projecting water-mist towards the top of said inner enclosure, means for supplying water to said watermist spraying means, and air circulating means located in the top of said cabinet for causing air within the inner enclosure to fiow out the top openings thereof, downwardly through the side spaces between the enclosures and through the water-mist spraying means back into said inner enclosure.

2. The mulling cabinet according to claim 1 and further comprising heating means located in the bottom space between said enclosures for heating the water providing the water mist, whereby said water may be preheated.

3. A mulling cabinet comprising two enclosures, one being positioned inside the other and spaced therefrom along the top, bottom and sides, means securing said two enclosures together and supporting said enclosures in spaced apart relationship, door means on said enclosures for providing access from said outer to said inner enclosure, the inner enclosure having openings at the top and bottom thereof, water-mist spraying means located in said openings in the bottom of said inner enclosure for projecting water-mist towards the top of said inner enclosure, means for supplying water to said water-mist spraying means, a first heating means supported by one 'of said enclosures for heating said water, whereby said water is preheated, air circulating means located in the top of said cabinet for causing air within the inner enclosure to flow out the top openings thereof, downwardly through the side spaces between the enclosures and through the water-mist spraying means back into said inner enclosure, and second heating means within the space between said enclosures for heating the water -mist.

4. A mulling cabinet comprising two enclosures, one being positioned inside the other and spaced therefrom along the top, bottom and sides, means securing said two enclosures together and supporting said enclosures in spaced apart relationship, door means on said enclosures for providing access to the inner enclosure, the inner enclosure having openings at the top and bottom thereof, water-mist spraying means located in the openings in the bottom of said inner enclosure for projecting water mist towards the top of said enclosure, water supply means for supplying water to said water-mist spraying means,

said water supply means including means to heat said water, air circulating means located in the top of said cabinet for causing air within the inner enclosure to flow out the top openings thereof, downwardly through the side spaces between the enclosures and through the watermist spraying means back into said inner enclosure, and further heating means within the space between said enclosures for reheating said water mist, said further heating means being located at the top of said outer enclosure and extending into the side spaces between said inner and outer enclosures and baffle plates extending from one enclosure towards the other in said side spaces and located close to the bottom of said further heating means, whereby the flow of water mist is retarded in the region of said further heating means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,125,862 McMullen et al Jan. 19, 1915 1,768,498 Willsea June 24, 1930 2,253,261 Bacon Aug. 19, 1941 2,606,372 Foulder et a1 Aug. 12, 1952 

